Birding, Kayaking and Nature loving in Windsor Essex County in Ontario Canada

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pileated at the Pinery

This morning at around 9:30 AM was pretty well the pinnacle of my 1 year of birding. Species #175... A nesting family of Pileated Woodpeckers! Two babies, and both parents were hanging around. The colour, the essence of this bird is breathtaking. Seeing this bird for the first time in my life was easily worth the hassle of driving to see it.

I am amazed by the beauty of these birds. In flight, perched on the side of a tree, drumming... They are so cool!

I can't write for long, but one thing I would like to mention is... how annoying photographers can be. Two showed up after I had been waiting for 40 minutes to see the parents return to the babies. They pull out speakers, Ipods, and start blaring Pilleated calls. I told them... guys, there is a nest here... no need. The parents need to feed babies, not pose on a tree stump for you. ... I guess their $15,000 investment gives them the moral authority to break basic birding etiquette. I left as soon as I could at that point. I also told them to not use flash, as the birds were 50m from us, but they said "don't worry, we've been doing this along time".

Okay this is kind of funny. I have been reading your blog for a while now and I didn't realize until now that mabye that was you I met on Saturday. Do you drive a little black car? I was at the boardwalk with my girlfriend. Anyway, nice shots. If that was you it looks like we have the same lens too.

By the way, I share your sentiments. Just to let you know the whole time I was there they were calling to the scarlet tanager not the pileated but I didn't stay long either. Did you see the Red-headed woodpecker?

I was there with Wildlife Seeker on Saturday. The 2 photographers were very nice fellows but I agree that they really didn't need to call to the Pileated since it was going to return on its own if we just were quiet. However, I did enjoy listening to a catbird mimicking their iPod! Very entertaining.